Even though Tony Allen will probably be identified with afrobeat for the rest of his career, he already proved his versatility as a musician on several occasions in the past. Of course 'Film Of Life' also contains a number of pure afrobeat-tracks (opener 'Moving On', in which Tony looks back on his career, the great 'African Man', 'Ire Omo', for which he was joined by the Nigerian women band Adunni & Nefretiti and the rather subdued 'Boat Journey', an explicit warning for Africans aspiring to undertake the dangerous crossing to Europe), but on this album you can just as easily find seventies psychedelia and funk ('Ewa', 'Afro Kungfu Beat') and the soulful vocals of Kuku (whom we got to know thanks to his contribution on the 'Red Hot + Fela' compilation) in closing track 'Tony Wood', give that song a negro-spiritual vibe. For 'Film Of Life' Allen teamed up with French producers trio Vincent Taurelle, Ludovic Bruno and Vincent Taeger, better known as The Jazzbastards, which might explain why the album appears on the Jazz Village label and not its more obvious sister label World Village. In 2013 'Tony Allen: An Autobiography Of The Master Drummer Of Afrobeat', Allen's autobiography, was published and you may consider 'Film Of Life' the accompanying soundtrack. With Damon Albarn Allen already collaborated for the The Good, The Bad And The Queen and Rocket Juice & The Moon projects and the Blur front man also pops up on 'Film Of Life': on the understated 'Tiger's Skip' he plays melodica and for 'Go Back' Albarn even lent his voice. Varied album with Allen's drum style as a red thread.